Defense One

Pakistan is unlikely to be a front-burner issue for President Trump, but it’s a country he’ll have to reckon with sooner rather than later. It is difficult to know what to expect from a Trump administration regarding a country that remains by any objective measure both a critical counterterrorism partner and a state supporter of terrorism

The White House told Congress Thursday that it needs an additional $11.6 billion to pay for the campaign against Islamic State militants and the war in Afghanistan. The request raises the price tag for both wars to $85.3 billion in 2017.

The Obama administration has approved more than $278 billion in foreign arms sales in its eight years, more than double the total of the previous administration, according to figures released by the Pentagon on Tuesday.

Pakistani envoys on a diplomatic mission to Washington this week gave a stern warning to President Obama: ignoring the conflict in Kashmir will hurt U.S.-Pakistani counterterrorism efforts against the Taliban.

The American-led airstrike campaign against the Islamic State group and the global demand for missile defenses have Raytheon positioned for solid growth in 2016, the firm’s top executive said. Raytheon is projecting a revenue increase of 3 to 5 percent, or as much as a $1.1 billion, from its $23.3 billion in sales last year.

Although the program’s funding is relatively small, it could have an outsize impact on the United States’ military-to-military relations with many nations. Yet IMET today is in need of significant reform.

The new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, will soon complete an assessment that is expected to call for more U.S. troops than the Obama Administration has planned. Current policy calls for reducing the U.S. presence in Afghanistan from today’s 9,800 troops to 5,500 by the end of this year. Security has deteriorated sharply since the U.S. ended its official combat role in 2014, however, and Nicholson is expected to favor slower U.S. drawdowns. If so, the general is right. But what’s needed isn’t a slower timetable for withdrawals – it’s the end of timetables altogether.